And Men do not See It
by Magnus Parvus
Summary: This is not so much an homage, It’s me showing off, I can emulate anybody so when you read the next bit I wouldn’t blame you for thinking I’d been rooting around in Frank Miller’s garbage
1. Chapter 1

Part 1 The Commandment Killer.

Ben stared at the yellow police tape surrounding the clinic. A sign that said Midvale abortion clinic. Open 9-5 weekdays was imbedded in the grass nearby.

-Grizzly crime scene. Lots of dead bodies. Soon there'll be a lot of vultures.

-I'm Ben Urich. I'm a Crime reporter.

A black crow landed on the grass behind the yellow police tape surrounding the clinic.

-I scavenge a living on dead bodies. I'm a born and bred vulture.

Ben sidled up to a uniformed cop standing just outside an area where several ambulances and police cars were parked flashing their lights furiously in the broad daylight.

The policeman had an NYPD jacket on bearing the nametag Officer Rock.

"Sergeant." Ben approached him.

"Hey Ben how's it going? Haven't seen you around much lately."

"Well I'm done with that gambling syndicate story."

The cop leaned in closer to Ben. "You used to pay good money for tips back then."

"You used to need the money to support your gambling habit back then too sergeant."

Ben lit a cigarette. "Still in need of a few dollars."

"This ones gonna cost ya. 100 up front."

"100?"

"Be glad I need the bread quick. I could get at least 200 for it."

"O.k., O.k." Ben whipped out a note with Ben Franklin emblazoned on it.

Ben opened a folder labeled crime scene photocopies.

-The sergeant wasn't kidding. This is sure a scoop.

He had several photos and papers spread over his coffee table while he sat on the couch at home.

-Great story.

Ben stared at a large photo of the Midvale abortion clinic. On the side of the photo was marked in smaller letters- Police copy. File #9.

-One small midtown abortion clinic and a brutal senseless and violent murder spree.

-Great story.

Ben stared at the police photo of a bloodied corpse.

-1 doctor. 2 nurses. The receptionist and 3 patients. The patients were of course all pregnant women.

-Great story.

-The killer entered the clinic at around 10.30 am this morning.

A man kicked in the door to the clinic the patrons looked up shocked.

-Primary ballistic reports that he withdrew two AK 47 automatic rifles.

The man tore the guns from underneath his long overcoat.

-And proceeded to open fire.

Flame burst from the barrels of the two automatic rifles.

-After he had done his dirty work.

The trench coated man stepped over the bodies.

-He used the blood of the victims to paint on the walls.

Ben held up a photocopy of a photograph of one of the walls, on it was scrawled in red. "Thou shalt not kill."

-Great story.

Ben flipped on the television set with a flick of the remote control.

-Too good.

A reporter stood with a microphone in hand outside the clinic where Ben had been earlier. "Here we are still on the scene where a senseless killing took place just days ago."

-The sergeant didn't sell the story to only me. The press are all over this like flies on dead meat.

-This story is so good you can't get away from it.

Ben flicked the remote. With a click the channel changed. "Here we are with more CBA coverage of the commandment killing…"

-The press; the modern day scavengers. Hanging around dead body's like vultures.

Ben flicked the channel again. "…And here we are with more of our top story. Here is CBN's…"

Ben flicked the channel again. "…And he gets the pass over the blue line…"

Ben sat back and smiled contentedly on the couch.

-It's a big story all right.

-Then it gets bigger.

Sound erupted from the TV. "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this special report. Here is Rea Porter."

The reporter stood outside the Big Mama Casino. Yellow police tape squared off the building behind her.

"Another brutal slaying perpetrated by the so-called 'Commandment Killer.'"

"At approximately 10:30 this evening the killer entered the casino behind me, and proceeding to machine gun all of the establishment's patrons…"

Ben looked at the Daily Bugle as he passed by a newspaper vender outside.

-The killer leaves his calling card.

Ben looked at the front-page photograph. Slumped over a roulette wheel was a dead man. Behind him scrawled on the wall in blood was written – 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods.'

Ben passed by the same newsstand, this time it was raining however. Ben stared again at the Bugle.

-Over the next few days the "Commandment Killer" racks up a few more numbers.

-Both in body count and in newspaper sales.

Ben stared at the paper while someone behind him held out a handful of change to the vender. "Bugle please."

The Bugle headline read – 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife.' 'Strip club massacre.' Under it in smaller print read, 'the Commandment Killer hit a downtown strip club named Sin City…'

-Stories about serial killers sell newspapers…

-Stories about mass killings sell newspapers…

Ben stared at the lineup up people at the newsvendors. They stood outside in the rain and held out their hands full of change and requested, "Bugle."

"One Daily Bugle please."

-Stories about mass serial killings sell a lot of newspapers.

Ben sat alone in at his desk. The place was dark except for the single lamp from Ben's desk. On the desk was a small plaque labeled Paul Itser Award for journalism 1982 Ben Urich.

-I need new leads. I'm completely in the dark on this one.

A voice spoke from the darkness behind him. "So what have you got on the Commandment Killer."

Ben peered up from his desk. "Matt I was wondering when, the devil, you'd show up."

Daredevil stepped into the light.

"So what have you got?"

"Only what you can read in the papers Matt. I was hoping that maybe you'd have some answers."

Daredevil sat unmasked behind the desk with Ben pouring over the photographs.

Ben laid the photographs on the desk in front of him. "So this is what we got so far, four separate murder sprees, all of them with a commandment scrawled on the wall in the blood of the victims."

"The first of which is this assault on an abortion clinic." He handed Matt the black and white sheets. "They're photocopies from the police photos."

"They're black and white so you should be able to read them pretty well." Matt rubbed his fingers along the picture.

"The second is this assault on the casino in Atlantic City." Ben displayed the photograph. The tenth commandment was scrawled on the wall. "This one the body count triples."

Matt frowned as he ran his fingers along the page. "The third is this similar shooting at strip club. The body count, over 50 people including all the strippers."

"You got the ninth commandment written on the walls." Ben held up a picture. Again was scrawled another commandment. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife.

"Then just yesterday this came in." Ben held up the newspaper headline from the Daily Bugle. #8) Thou shalt not commit adultery. Commandment Killer hits swingers' orgy.

Ben rubbed his chin. "Hmm… you know except for the first one, every one of the murders has been counting down like a top ten list."

"The Ten Commandments are kind of the top of the top ten." Matt inserted.

"The next one counting down is the one about bearing false witness, Matt."

"Lying. Hmm… that makes me as a lawyer a likely target."

"I was thinking exactly the same thing." Ben opened his dresser drawers and pulled out a newspaper clipping.

"Here read this." He handed it over to Matt

Matt ran his fingers across an article reading it. "Bugle financial news. Talks between law firms representing the tobacco companies and those lawyers who filed suit against them have dragged on into the fifth week. "

"It's going to cost me a fortune in legal fees says plaintiff, Richard Weed. Recently awarded 2,000,000 in his recent suit against…"

-So Matt and I plan a little preemptive action.

Matt stood outside a modern high-rise tower

-Although the fact is Matt does all the action.

Matt entered through the guarded doors at the bottom of the building. A trench-coated man followed him inside.

"But you must understand hereto as for the aforementioned is forthwith and notwithstanding as to the nature and balance of said account is herewith…"

The lawyers sat around a table. Someone read from a sheet before them with a pencil in his hand.

Matt walked down the hall hearing in the distance. "…And notwithstanding, in the amount of said account…"

-I'm a tough reporter. Tough as nails.

-But the fact of the matter is Matt's saved my butt more times then I can count. It's hard to really believe that a man so skilled as he is, is blind.

Matt stood outside the lawyers office of Nash, Stills and Crosby. He heard from the door. "We the undersigned do hereby acknowledge…"

Matt walked into the lawyers' office.

One of the lawyers looked up. "Hello"

Matt came up to him and held out his hand. "Hello Matt Murdock attorney. I contacted your office and said I'd be joining the session today."

The man looked at him quizzically. "Hmm… I don't remember anything about that. But you can take a chair over there. "

Matt took a seat while the man picked up the sheet.

"Now where was I? Oh yes, where heretofore the aforementioned…"

The trench-coated killer stalked the hallway. He walked past the door Matt had just entered labeled Nash, Stills and Crosby.

-Fact of the matter is that Matt had he not been blind…

The killer walked down the hallway to another door.

-He wouldn't have entered the wrong office.

The killer stood outside an office labeled Palmer, Lake and Emerson.

-Then he hears it. The same sound I've heard myself on the streets in all corners of Hell's Kitchen. The gangs love em cheap, plentiful and deadly.

Matt peered up in his chair at the lawyer's office.

-The unmistakable rah-tat-tat-tat of bullets being fired at a rate of 600 rounds per minute. From an AK 47.

Muzzle flare protruded from duel barrels of the guns as they fired a stream of lead on the unsuspecting group of attorneys.

-Worst of all, it sounds like it's coming from the other side of the building.

Matt sprinted to the door.

One of the lawyers looked up questioningly. "Mr. Murdock where are you going?"

Matt sprinted down the halls pulling off his outer clothes. His red Daredevil costume was not underneath his shirt.

-So our boy goes into action.

-Forgetting one vital ingredient necessary for striking terror into the hearts of evildoers.

Smoke poured from the end of Ben's cigarette.

Smoke poured from the barrels of masked gunman rifles.

They were slung loosely around his shoulder. The walls around him were spattered red.

He painted on the walls with a brush in blood red. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

-He couldn't see it. But he could sure smell it. You'd be amazed at how much blood stinks up the place.

Ben puffed on his cigarette the smoke drifted up to his nose.

-Thankfully my sense of smell isn't nearly as good as Matt's.

The doors where kicked in with a puff of smoke. The gunman looked up startled.

-So Matt goes in. Not fully dressed but with full guns blazing.

Matt stood before the gunman in his underwear but wearing his Daredevil mask. The gunman turned around surprised.

The gunman fired, missing Daredevil who leapt out of the way.

-And is met with the same.

The bullets struck a fire extinguisher behind Daredevil.

The fire extinguisher exploded covering Daredevil's face in its foam.

-Funny thing about sense of smell.

Ben puffed on his cigarette. The smoke drifted up to his nose.

-It tends to get dulled with harsh chemicals.

The man rushed past Daredevil while Daredevil held his face in anguish.

-Long story short.

"I let him get away Ben."

"You also assaulted him in your underwear, how could you forget to put your costume on."

"I figured I was wearing it. I usually wear it under my suit."

"I wouldn't worry about it. Going in to fight crime in your underwear is something you're familiar with by now." Ben smirked.

"As for letting him get away there wasn't much you could do Matt, especially with a face full of fire retardants does it still sting."

Matt dried his face with a towel. "I'll live. Unlike my fellow barristers."

"So what do we do now?"

"Stake out a list of probable future targets."

"I dunno Matt. There's got to be a way to catch this guy before he does more damage. "

"I wouldn't be able to point him out to you. That mask he was wearing screwed up the image my radar sense gives me."

"And as soon as I was through the door I was hit with the foam. I wouldn't even be able to pick him out by scent."

Daredevil heard the rah-tat-tat-tat in his minds eye. "All I can remember is the sound of those damn guns."

-Matt is impetuous.

Ben leaned over to grab a cigarette from a pack on the table.

"Hmm…" Ben grabbed a photo from the crime scene on the table. On the wall scrawled in blood were the words. Last gospel. Last verse.

Ben stared at the photograph. "I'm wondering if the religious nature of the crimes might be the key to solving them. Matt there's…"

Ben turned, staring into space. He added softly. "Someone I'd like you meet."

Ben stood outside a large stone gate. On the stone was a plaque St. Matthews's monastery.

-There's an old blind monk. He's the head librarian at the monastery.

An old monk in a brown robe stood before a row of books on the wall behind him.

-Translates ancient manuscripts into brail.

-His special project.

The monk looked up sharply. His eyes were white and pupil less. He sniffed in the air. "Ben Urich?"

"How'd you know it was me Father Tomas?"

"I recognize the foul smell of your cigarettes a mile away. What brings you here my old friend?"

"How much you know about the Ten Commandments?"

"Not much really. Old Testament really isn't my area. I have other colleges here that are far more in the know regarding the older books." He got up to leave.

Ben placed a hand on his shoulder. "Last gospel. Last verse."

"What?"

Ben held up a photograph from the crime scene. On the wall in blood was written. Last gospel. Last verse. "This was found at the first crime scene. It's the only time anything other then a commandment has been written on the wall. That and the fact that it happened chronologically out of sequence with the others make it stand out."

"The last verse of the last gospel would be John: 21:25."

"But there are also many other things which Jesus did: were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

"Yeah I already figured that out. Any special meaning you can derive from that?"

"That the murderer is a religious fanatic?"

"I was expecting you to give me insights not state the obvious."

"You expect a blind man to be in sight. You expect too much."

"I dunno I'm grasping at straws trying to get some kind of new lead." He smiled at the blind monk.

The monk laughed. "I guess to have faith in a blind man is as bad as blind faith."

Ben laughed back. "I guess I'm a doubting, Tomas."

They both laughed together.

The monk put his fingers to his chin. "Hmm… Thomas. He could be referring to the gospel of Thomas."

"The what?"

"The Gnostic gospel of Thomas. It was found in Egypt in the 40's. An ancient gospel that wasn't included in the final text of the bible."

The old monk picked up a large text and read from it. "Yes, yes here it is. And they asked, when will the Kingdom of God come.

And Jesus replied. The Kingdom of the Father will not come by expectation. The Kingdom of the Father is spread upon the earth and men do not see it."

He smirked closing the dusty book. "Heh, heh. It's considered the heretical gospel. It was never included in the final version of the bible."

Ben stared flabbergasted. "You're kidding me?"

"No there were probably many ancient texts that were not included in the bible when in was editioned the era of Constantine the great."

-So we pool our ideas together and we stake it out.

Matt and Ben drove together.

-Me and Matt.

Ben stopped the car. "That simple huh?"

Daredevil looked back it him. "That simple."

Ben ran the doorbell.

A woman answered. "Hello, what can I do for you?"

"Excuse me, are you Mrs. A. E. Newman?"

"Yeah that's me. Who are you? Some kind of cop?"

Ben looked at her in a stern manner. "Are you the commandment killer?"

"What?" The woman looked at him confused.

Daredevil looked down at Ben from the rooftop shaking his head and motioning negatively.

-I guess it's that simple

Ben looked up at Daredevil resigningly. "Never mind ma'am, thank you for you time."

"No go huh?" Ulrich opened the car door.

"She was confused when you accused her, she wasn't frightened. Her heart didn't pitch a beat. Anyone guilty wouldn't have been able to hide that."

"You know, being able to read people like that takes all the fun out of detective work."

"You mean it takes out all the work of detective work."

"Hey I ain't complaining, there are a lot of folks on this list. I started with anybody who had any prior beef with the abortion clinic. That's the one thing out of place so far."

"So what's this?" Matt held up a single sheet of paper. "A list of names of whoever protests at the abortion clinics?"

"Yes but I've made our search much broader then that." Ben handed Daredevil a bunch sheets of paper.

"Holy cow." Daredevil rubbed his hands across the stack of pages.

Daredevil and Ben drove on down the road. Ben puffed on his cigarette.

-We hit the trail. He complains about my cigarettes. Screw him. I need my nicotine.

Ben tipped his cigarette ash out the window.

-He complains when I roll down the window to let in fresh air. Says it bothers his ears.

Ben clutched the steering wheel with a frown on his face.

-I don't care if he's blind. He should get his own damn car.

End of Part 1

"And Men do not See It." m


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2 What the Killer's Commands Meant.

-So we go over the puzzle again.

Ben and Matt gathered inside Matt's brownstone.

-Piece by piece.

Various photographs and sheets were scattered on the floor. Matt was unmasked yet wore sunglasses and a bathrobe around his costume.

"Why do you bother wearing the glasses, especially when it's just us?"

Matt felt the page. "I feel better wearing glasses when I read. Force of habit."

"We must have interviewed a million people by now and haven't come up with lead one." Ben scowled.

Matt held up the list. "Well so far we've only pursued those with religious affiliations."

"These attacks do seem religiously motivated."

"Hmm… funny you should think that. I actually saw it more as legally motivated." Matt approached the bookshelf.

Matt picked up a heft book and held it in his hands. "The Ten Commandments are in fact one of the oldest sets of written laws. Moreover they are amazingly simple covering all the basic needs for a nomadic herding society."

"Laws." Ben nodded.

"Not laws of man, Laws of god. There's a difference, but in ancient Hebrew society they fulfilled both roles."

"Damn hypocrite you ask me. Thou shalt not kill, so therefore I kill."

"I dunno." Matt paced behind Ben. "I mean, I would have busted up a gambling parlor. I have on many an occasion. Heck just last week I was involved in a fight with some bikers at a strip club."

Matt bowed his head. "I can't begin to tell you the number of people I punched out."

"Hmm…" Ben held up a picture of multiple bullets fired in a cross shaped pattern on one of the walls.

"Matt, take a look at this."

Matt rubbed his fingers along the page. "Lets check it out."

Ben and Matt drove in Ben's car.

-So I'm back in the car with Mr. tobacco smoke hurts my sinuses.

-I wonder why I put up with it.

-Then I remember I might get the inside scoop on the hottest crime story of the year.

-For all the times I wonder why I do the dangerous things I do. I always have the same answer. The scoop.

They parked the car outside the abortion clinic.

-It's so close now I can smell it.

-They stood outside the abortion clinic. Yellow police tape still surrounded the building.

-Matt can smell it too.

"The blood from last week is still in the air." Matt sniffed as he brushed aside the yellow tape.

Matt and Ben stood inside the clinic; everything was cleaned up from when the shooting had taken place,

Matt went up to the wall where the gunfire had pierced.

"Oh man can you believe they already repaired it." Ben announced

"Sloppy job. The plasterer isn't nearly smooth enough." Matt ran his hands along the wall

"You're telling me it's a sloppy job." Ben picked up a piece of drywall with jagged edges from the floor. "He left bits of plaster all over the place."

"Hmm …" said Matt as Ben handed him the piece.

"I think this is part of the old drywall." Matt felt the drywall with his palm. "One part of this is eroded away as by ultra violet light. The other side is thicker. "

"Part of this was covered over by something that protected it from the sunlight."

"A crucifix."

Matt felt at the drywall. "Yeah, yeah I guess it could be a crucifix."

Ben stared at the picture on the desk of a young woman sitting behind her desk. Behind her on the wall where the shots had been fired was a crucifix.

"Hmm…" said Matt shaking the piece of drywall in the air. "This doesn't fit."

"So what are we supposed to do if it doesn't fit counselor?"

"You should know as well as anybody that the last lesson that my old man a' taught me was that you don't a' quit."

"I thought you only traded witty repartee with villains?"

"Shooting up a crucifix doesn't sound like your run of the mill David Koresh type fanatic."

"No, it sounds more like someone with a grudge."

"Against who?"

"Against god? Against life? Against religion? It means that whoever is doing this may not be actively involved in any current radical religious movements."

"You mean we've been looking in the wrong bunch? I don't think so. These crimes, like you said, seem religiously motivated."

"Yes, I'm sure they are. We just have to trace back our steps."

Ben Ulrich ran the doorbell.

A familiar face answered the door. "Mrs. Newman." Ben announced.

"Look I don't know who you are but I didn't kill anybody."

"I know that Mrs. Newman. I'm positive of your innocence."

The woman replied earnestly. "Because I have an alibi and everything. Several in fact."

"That's ok."

"You can speak to my husband right now. He'll vouch for me right away."

"Ok, ok. I believe you all right. First off the moment people start shouting out proofs of their innocence then they genuinely tend to be innocent."

"Second, I'm a newspaper reporter. And you have an honest face."

The woman looked at him expressionlessly.

"Do you mind if I talk to you for a little while."

"What paper do you work for?"

"The Daily Bugle."

"Well come right on in." She grabbed Ben's hand and pulled him in the house.

She motioned to a nearby chair. "Take a seat. I can't tell you how much I love that paper."

Ben sat in the chair. Mrs. Newman sat across from him. Behind her hanging upsidedown in the window he could make out the red-silhouetted shape of Daredevil.

"Seems like no other paper got the guts to tell it like it is about that red suited menace."

"Daredevil?"

Daredevil frowned at Ben outside the window.

"No dummy that threat to all mankind Spiderman."

"Oh yes of course. What I really wanted to ask you was about your protesting at the clinic."

"The abortion clinic that all those people were murdered at?"

"You used to protest outside the clinic?"

"Every Thursday. Sometimes I missed a week here and there but I showed up to show my support. Then all this happened."

The woman frowned, perturbed. "Hard to believe. I tell you it's a darn senseless killing. You can't stop killing with killing. The whole thing is paradoxical."

"Go argue with crazies."

"Tell me about it. I'm religious and I go to church every week. And I did my part."

"But some of the people at the protest, every day from sunup to sundown they stood in front of that building. Almost like beggars on the street marching back and forth in front of the building. I admire their faith but some of them are pretty strange."

"There was one young man who seemed quite intelligent he stood outside that clinic for near two years strait."

"Is he still around?"

"No I haven't seen him in over a year, not at the clinics, not in church. I do remember his name. Thomas."

"Thomas?" Ben smiled eagerly.

"Yeah, he used to joke about his name. He said there was a Heretical Gospel named after him."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Oh he did, did he?"

He leaned forward and smiled crookedly. "Tell me more…"

-I had a lead now I could smell it.

Daredevil smiled in the window.

-Again, we both could.

A few hours later.

Daredevil hopped in the Bugle office window. "I got em."

Ben turned to him anxiously.

Daredevil dropped a file folder on Ben's desk. "Everything's right there. All the info on one Thomas."

Daredevil sat on the widow ledge. "Besides protesting at two abortion clinics in the area. Thomas found time for Religious studies at Empire State University. One of their more promising students it appears. Strait A's, His professors had nothing but good things to say about him in their reports. That is until he disappeared over a year ago."

Daredevil climbed inside and pulled a photograph out of the folder. "Nobody's heard from him since. Not even his folks."

He handed the picture to Ben. "So what do you think?"

Ben examined the picture of Thomas. "He's our best bet so far."

"What makes you think it's him so much?"

Ben held up another photograph. "That quote inscribed on the wall at the first killing. Last gospel. Last verse. Well I keep getting to thinking that he's referring not to the gospel of John but to the Gnostic gospel of Thomas. I think if he meant John he simply would have written John. He wrote the commandment out plain enough."

"But why wouldn't he say Thomas if he meant Thomas. I don't see your logic."

"How many people know about that book? It's something only biblical scholars would know about for the most part. If he lets on about Thomas it lowers the amount available suspects to a small minority of people."

"Of which Thomas is one himself and he doesn't want to implicate himself."

"Now you're catching on."

Ben listened to a small television left perpetually on in the corner of the newsroom. It was turned to a 24-hour news channel. On the screen a reporter talked under the banner. "Commandment Killer strikes again." While police and firemen worked around her. Ben approached the TV. "Hold on a second this looks important."

Ben turned up the volume. The screen banner changed to NNC News Heli-cam. A helicopter showed an overhead shot of an armored prison bus. Several of the windows were shattered with spider web patterns and the windows had a distinct reddish tinge to them.

On the side of the bus was scrawled in red- Thou Shalt Not Steal.

"Prisoners being transferred met an untimely doom this afternoon when the Commandment killer struck yet again…"

Ben stared trough a pair of binoculars at the sign. The McClynich Abortion Clinic.

They sat in Ben's parked car outside the buildings parking lot. Ben held the binoculars up to his eyes.

-Matt's pretty sure that this is the target. I've learned to trust his instincts.

-About some things anyway.

Ben looked at the donut in his hand disgusted. "I can't believe you got all jelly donuts. I hate jelly donuts. I'm a newsman, give me something coated in fat and sugar."

"To go with your congested lungs? Foggy likes the jelly donuts, I just figured you know."

Ben held the binoculars up to his face again. "Never mind I think I see some action."

A man pulled into the parking lot and pulled his car right up to the door.

"Matt did you see…" Ben turned to Matt but he was no longer there.

The gunman opened the door to the clinic.

-We're all in this for our own reasons.

-For the mad the reasons beyond reason.

The masked gunman stepped inside the reception area. A couple of women turned to look up at him.

-For Matt, the reasons are really simple.

Suddenly from under his trench coat the killer pulled out two AK 47 automatic weapons. The woman looked on terrified. Several of them opened their mouths wide to scream loudly.

-It's simply a matter…

The gunman wielded the machine guns at the women.

-…Of protecting the innocent…

The gunman was suddenly knocked in the masked face by a red-gloved fist. The gunman's mask flew from his face to revel the face they had seen in the photographs of Thomas.

-…Punishing the wicked.

The nurses ran, heading out the doorway marked exit.

-Once everybody's safely out of firing range.

The woman ran outside. Panicked, they looked to Ben who waited nearby.

"Mr., Mr. There's some nut with a gun…"

Ben motioned to them. "I know, I know. Come on. Get away from there."

"Where are you?" The gunman swirled around.

The killer looked around the empty room pointing his guns at the empty air. "You think you can beat me."

He fired his guns. The bullets tore the empty room to shreds.

-The real fun begins.

The killer gazed around the empty room. He pointed his gun at the doors. "I've got the exits covered. Where the hell is he?"

Just then the wall smashed in.

The man stumbled backwards as two headlights blazed from the top of a giant snowplow, that drove threw the wall.

The killer fired his guns but the bullets simply spaked off the plow from the giant snow truck.

-He may not be bullet proof.

The headlights blazed in the face of the killer. He fired at the plow blindly as bits of the ceiling fell because of the demolished wall.

-Or even able to drive.

-Well legally anyway.

Seated behind the driver's chair with a smile on his face was Daredevil.

-But that doesn't stop the man without fear.

The gunman fell back holding his hand over his face to shield him from the glare.

He dropped one of the riffles from his hand but held on to the other one tightly.

Daredevil snarled down at him unseen.

The man fired blindly. Bullets spit from the gun. Daredevil leapt out of the way. The bullets pounded a holed pattern into the drywall.

As more bullets spat from the muzzle of the gun, one of the bullets hit a regulated compressed gas tank.

The tanks valve started into the red danger area.

-Things start to get messy.

Suddenly a red boot connected with the hand firing the gun.

-So he decides to finish it.

The gunman curled in the corner of the room holding his hands up to shield his face from the blinding headlights.

The gas tank valve needle was in the maximum red zone.

"Where the hell are you! Show your face damn it!" The gunman screamed.

"Why?" A shadowed voice asked. "Why did you do it?"

"Why? Ha, ha. Why not? Ya gotta die sometime right. It's not like life means anything. Right."

The tank exploded. Fire engulfed a corner of the room.

A shadowed voice shouted. "Look fire, man! You'll burn alive."

The gunman laughed madly among the rising flames. "Ha! You see! Providence is even in my favor. Evil burns like it should."

"Evil? You killed innocent people. You're breaking the law."

"Innocent? Don't you see? The commandments are a joke. All of life is. If we all die anyway why shouldn't we kill?"

"Thomas, laws matter."

"None of it makes any sense. If god doesn't exist why should any of his laws matter? God kills everybody. Forever." Smoke and flames enveloped the building.

"Thomas…"

"It's all for nothing. No heaven no hell." The flames grew around Thomas.

"No god and no devil. They don't exist." Sweat poured from his face from the heat of the surrounding flames.

The fully red suited Daredevil stepped into view through the rising flames.

Thomas looked scared and bit down hard on his lip. "No, no! Back devil! Oh lord, I'm sorry I was wrong. I was wrong!"

Surrounded by fire, the angry devilish figure approached the killer as he huddled in the corner terrified. "Noooo."

Daredevil stood before Thomas prepared to take him down.

Thomas stared up at Daredevil with a contorted face.

Thomas slumped and fell forward unconscious, surrounded by the flames surrounding the building. Daredevil reached out to catch Thomas.

Daredevil grabbed the slumped gunman's jaw in his hands and tried to pry them apart.

Daredevil frowned as he sniffed the unconscious man's open breath.

-As soon as he opened his jaw he smelled it. Cyanide.

Daredevil held the slumped man by the collar as he turned away from him.

-He knows right away that he needn't bother trying to revive him. That he's already dead.

-He doesn't like that. You can tell. He's had enough death. I guess we all have.

Matt looked sullen riding in the car with Ben.

Ben grabbed the steering wheel tightly with an angry frown on his face.

-Bad as Matt feels right now. I feel a lot worse.

Matt said flatly. "Well you got your story."

"My story?" Ben yelled at him angrily. "My story? Did you see how many press wagons followed the police cars to that clinic?"

Ben pulled out a cigarette. "But not me, no I'm headed away from the story cause I'm working with a goodie two shoes superhero with a secret identity to protect."

Ben popped the cigarette in his mouth. "Moreover he can't drive himself away from the scene of the crime because he's blind."

"Of all the gin joints…" Ben lit the cigarette.

"Excuse me?" Matt looked flatly over at him.

"Never mind." Ben took a huge puff off the cigarette. "Mind if I smoke."

He blew the smoke in Daredevil's face. "It doesn't bother you does it."

He grimaced as he clutched the steering wheel. "Driving away from the scoop. I can't believe it."

Matt waved the smoke away from his face. "It's journalistic integrity Ben."

"Being one of the good guys is not journalistic integrity. It's being a schmuck."

Ben looked at the press car labeled NNC news speed by on the opposite side of the road.

-There go the vultures after the dead bodies.

Ben stared in the rear view mirror and watched the press van pass.

-And truth to tell, sometimes it feels better to be a hero then to be a vulture.

"And Men do not See It." by Magnus Parvus


End file.
